How being ‘Internet famous’ became a full-time career

ST. LOUIS – When many people were growing up, the dream jobs were doctor, teacher, singer, or Hollywood star. But times have changed. But according to a survey from First Choice, the most recent list of dream jobs for kids has “YouTuber” at the top of the list.

It may not seem like a career for many adults, but there are big bucks to be made. In fact, 8 of the 10 celebrities for millennial teens are YouTube creators.

“The number of creators that are making over six figures is growing phenomenally for us,” said YouTube spokesperson. “Many of the creators are becoming their own businesses and creating their own production companies.”

So now that this is an actual career, how do you train for it? Don Golaszewski with the Broadcast Center in St. Louis says they are seeing people interested in this type of career.

“Those that want to make money at it, somewhere along the way they will have to get advertisers. And to do that, they’re going to have to do it well,” he said.

For some, it’s no small business. They churn out several videos a week and they are done well, because the junk video won’t do well.

“If you look at 95 percent of the stuff out there, it really stinks, it’s junk,” Golaszewski said. “The top five percent has done well because at least they’ve had some type of training or they know what they’re doing.

He points out that to be good, you need to learn the shooting, editing, music and legal aspects of the business.

“Not everything starts out making a lot of money. We see these big stars making millions, but everybody’s gotta pay their dues. You don’t just jump from here to there. You got to build up the base and your credibility.”

And for adults, it doesn’t hurt for us to learn a new skill as well. Millions of adults are watching videos for sales, marketing, training, and business in general. So Golaszewski has this piece of advice: “at some point, everybody’s going to be in on it in some fashion.”